Women’s Rights

Threatened and Beaten, Afghan Women Defy Taliban With Protests

KABUL, Afghanistan — On a raw January morning, Khujasta Elham trudged through a snowstorm to sign her name on a government register. Before the Taliban seized power in August, Ms. Elham was director of women’s programs for Afghanistan’s Civil Service Commission. But she and most other female government workers were prevented from returning to work […]

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China Moves to Overhaul Protections for Women’s Rights, Sort Of

The announcement was presented — in official news reports, on social media — as a major victory for Chinese women. The government was set to overhaul its law governing women’s rights for the first time in decades, to refine the definition of sexual harassment, affirm prohibitions on workplace discrimination and ban forms of emotional abuse. […]

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The New Political Cry in South Korea: ‘Out With Man Haters’

SEOUL — They have shown up whenever women rallied against sexual violence and gender biases in South Korea. Dozens of young men, mostly dressed in black, taunted the protesters, squealing and chanting, “Thud! Thud!” to imitate the noise they said the “ugly feminist pigs” made when they walked. “Out with man haters!” they shouted. “Feminism […]

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In Mexico, Women Directors Take the Lead

MEXICO CITY — As a young girl growing up in 1980s Mexico, the idea of becoming a filmmaker was almost unthinkable for Fernanda Valadez. Other than a movie club at the local university, there were no cinemas in her hometown, Guanajuato, and films made by women were few and far between. “The dream of making […]

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A Plan Forms in Mexico: Help Americans Get Abortions

In Texas, a new law bars doctors from providing pills to induce abortions after seven weeks of pregnancy, and adds penalties of jail time and a fine of up to $10,000 for anyone who mails or delivers the medication. Legal experts say such laws may be challenged after the F.D.A. decision, but for now, these […]

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bell hooks, Pathbreaking Black Feminist, Dies at 69

“I think of bell hooks as being pivotal to an entire generation of Black feminists who saw that for the first time they had license to call themselves Black feminists,” Kimberlé Crenshaw, a law professor at Columbia, said in an interview. “She was utterly courageous in terms of putting on paper thoughts that many of […]

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Progress for Saudi Women Is Uneven, Despite Cultural Changes and More Jobs

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — At the cramped shop where Kholoud Ahmed sells the traditional Muslim women’s gowns known as abayas, the rainbow of colors is a revelation. In the past, women in Riyadh typically dressed in the same black abaya no matter where they were going. Now, observed Ms. Ahmed, 21, there’s a differently colored […]

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Taliban Decree an End to Forced Marriages in Afghanistan

The Taliban decreed on Friday that they were banning forced marriage of women in Afghanistan, a move apparently meant to address criteria the international community considers a precondition to recognizing the new government and restoring aid to the war-torn country. The announcement was attributed to the Taliban’s reclusive chief, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, a cleric chosen […]

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Adele’s White Pantsuit in Her Oprah Interview Sent A Powerful Message

As the re-emergence of Adele continues with the one-two punch of an Oprah Winfrey interview and a “One Night Only” concert at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles in front of a starry, starry crowd — all in prelude to an album release on Friday — so, too, does her mastery of the art the […]

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